Sarah Orne Jewett

Sarah Orne Jewett grew up in the rural town of South Berwick, Maine. Her physician father influenced her as a child by taking her on his visits to the sick within the community, thus teaching her to observe and appreciate the country people of her home state. He also encouraged her love of literature, and when Jewett’s chronic sickliness (which had plagued her since childhood) prevented her from continuing to study medicine, she dedicated herself to writing. Though she remained fond of her hometown, she became a prominent member of the Boston literary circle through her friendship with publisher William Dean Howells. In her lifetime, Jewett published over 20 novels and short story collections, including the novel The Country of the Pointed Firs, her most critically acclaimed work. Jewett died of a stroke in 1909 in the small Maine town where she was born.